Caramel color compositions



Patented Sept. 8, 1953 Granltc;;-City;lll., assignors to-Union Starch & Refining Company;Columhnsahldc,.aocorporaetion of Indiana No Drawing. Application November 3.0111951), Serial No. 1983-88 composition, more particularly it relates tolai solid caramelcolor" material: and a1 liquid: solution thereof:

The carame1 colors of commerce arerproduced by well known caramelization.processes in which heat isapplied to: concentrated sugar'solutions which. may contain variousiamounts: of catalysts preferably of an alkaline: nature, the-.mosticomzmonly used being compounds of: ammonia. Caramelization or the production of coloring power. cannot be. carried beyond. certain limits which-.are imposed by thezinstability imparted by overburning and attainment. of: excessive; vise cosity, humin formatiomcharring? and other undesirable results; Consequently the commercial caramel colors-ordinarily containpnly'about 25% of the, weight of: thesugar; solids:.in.the-= form. of coloring. compounds, theremainder'of: the. solids being; primarily' unchanged; or. slightly;- modified sugars. The essential; characteristic; therefore; that. of: color imparting power or as. is known inthe trade, tinctorial power,. has been; limited in thgpast by'thepractical: degreesof carmelizati'on realizable under the. limitations: of; theprocesses available.

In United; States application Serial No. 753,054, filed June 6, 1947; now: Patent: No. 2,533,221, of which this application is a continuation-in-part, and United States, application Serial No. 174,786, filed" July 19', 1950, there are disclosed'processes for separating'solid caramel:coloringcompounds which are substantially freefrom contaminating carbohydrates. These precipitated compounds are.=from.-.3-5 or more timesas powerful as coloringagents than any other. caramel color. product manufactured on a commercia1 scale. They have a bland flavor-and are"essentiallyodorless. They are. stable? in all, the tests; to which caramel: colors are ordinarily subi ected; such as:.th.e; test. for sta+ bility in acidified solutions, etc. The producttis considered to be a mixture of substantially pure caramelan and caramelen in accordance with current ideas of constitution.

This solid caramel color compound can be added as a dry material to liquid or solid compositions which it is desired to color but many times it is desirable to have a color that can be added in the form of a relatively concentrated solution.

An object of this invention is to provide a concentrated caramel color composition for addition to food products.

Another object of the invention is to provide a liquid caramel color solution which has a greater 2: coloring power than 1iquid caramel" color come positions madeheretofore.

These objects and others ancillary'theretoare obtained by precipitating the caramel color bodies. from: aw caramelized carbohydrate solution; separating the'precipitatedcolor bodies, and dissolving:the concentratedproduct mix in water, to whichis added? a non-toxic stabilizer suchas propylene glycol:

The. dimers. and: other polymers: of propylene alcoholaandrthe polyalkylene oxides by themselves or combined with sorbit'anesters such as the sorbitarrmonostearate.polyoxyethylene derivation in which the polyoxyethylene: portion comprises a number of (CH2-.-CH2-O.)t units, canbe added as: the stabilizers. The. stabilizer? canjbeadded in the proportion ofe2'-20% oi the composition: and the solid: caramel color bodies. can be added to produce a.;30 -66%. solutionv thereof. Thisconstitutes a-considerable advantageover the ordinary caramel solution; which. contains about 25% of coloring compounds. and which in addition. con-v tains. non-coloring. carbohydrate components which may beundesirablefor some uses.

The: separated caramel color bodies may be dried prior to dissolving or they may be added to the: solventzliquid' as. a dispersion. in; thealcoholic precipitating: liquid: The alcohol; being diluted by thes; sol-vent; does. riotharmz the resulting solu-, tion andiractuallyacts:as-apreservative rea ent.

A very'satisfactory way toform the solution is to heatithewaten andpropy1 n 1y 0 mixt re t atemperatureof: not; oven 180 F. and add: the powderedicaramel; color bodies in small amounts with constant stirring and thereafter cool the solution obtained.

The following example illustrates how the solid, substantially pure color bodies are obtained.

Exemplar Aeolutiontofz thirty two (329' gallons of, anal coholic mixture of 85% of total alcohols, by volume, and 15% water is prepared in which the alcohols are: 3.6 parts methanol or ethanol and 1.0 parts isopropyl. The temperature is reduced below F. and preferably to about 50 F. and agitation is started by means of a mechanical stirrer. Caramel color of approximate1y 25 tinctorial power and 36 B. is added in fine streams by means of a nozzle until a total of 168 pounds has been included. Agitation is continued until complete mixture is obtained.

On allowing to stand quiescent, the mixture separates into two distinct layers, in which the line of demarcation is easily apparent. Sub- Other methods of liquid-liquid extraction may be applied also.

The upper layer containing the mother liquors.

or sugars, is stripped of its alcohols and the latter recovered by conventional solvent recovery methods. blended with fresh sugars) to the burning process and recaramelized. The lower layer containing the coloring compounds, may be redissolved in a. little water, stripped of its alcohol, redissolved again and dried by any of the conventional The sugars are returned (sometimes.

methods using heated rolls, spray dryers, etc.

We have found spray drying to be economical and efiicient and controllable to the extent of making a satisfactory dry powder of suitable particle size and solubility. The powder may, of course, be reground mechanically to any degree of fineness. When non-toxic precipitants have been employed the lower layer may be dissolved directly to form a highly concentrated aqueous solution to which propylene glycol or other nontoxic solvent or stabilizing agent may be added.

The precipitated product is believed to be a mixture of substantially pure caramelan and caramelen as noted earlier.

The tinctorial power of the product is determined according to the normal color standards of this art, for example, by matching a 0.1% solution of the unknown in a cell of 1" thickness against Lovibond (series #52) caramel color slides. The tinctorial power of the solid color bodies prepared by the above Example 1 is of such intensity that the matching solution for Lovibond 52 series comparison is of 0.025% concentration. Hence to determine the degree of color intensification obtained by isolating and drying the color bodies in commercial caramel color, the Lovibond 52 series readings are multiplied by a factor of 4.

For example, a commercial liquid caramel color had a tinctorial power of 22 Lovibond 52 series color units when a 0.1% solution was matched in a 1" cell against the comparators slides. The solvent isolated dried color body of the Example 1 in 0.025% solution had a tinctorial power of 24 Lovibond (52 series) color units when matched in a 1" cell. The degree of color intensification was therefore or 4.36 fold increase.

The following examples illustrate how the precipitated and dried caramel color product of Example 1 can be made into a solution according to the present invention.

Example 2 2334 grams of powder obtained from Example 1 were added in grams proportions to a well stirred, F. mixture of 553 grams of propylene glycol plus 2639 grams of water. The resultant mixture had a tinctorial power of 44 (0.1% solution) and a B. of 24.3 at 60 F. The percentage of each constituent was:

Example 3 The caramel color is precipitated from the caramel solution by a mixture of 3.6 parts of ethanol and 1 part of normal butanol. The separated liquid containing the caramel color bodies, water, ethanol and butanol is filtered and the wet powder is added directly to a 5% solution of propylene glycol in water in sufiicient amount to produce a 30% solution of the caramel color bodies.

' It will be readily understood that this invention provides a preserved concentrated solution of caramel color compounds which solution has very high tinctorial powers.

We claim:

1. A water solution consisting essentially of water, substantially pure caramel coloring compounds of 30 to 50 tinctorial power and a nontoxic water soluble alcoholic compound selected from the group consisting of propylene glycol, propylene and ethylene glycol polymers and fatty acid derivatives of said glycol polymers.

2. A water solution consisting essentially of water, substantially pure caramel coloring compounds of 30 to 50 tinctorial power and 2-20% of propylene glycol as a stabilizer.

3. A water solution of the pure caramel coloring compounds of 30 to 50'tinctorial power, said solution consisting essentially of water, 2 to 20% of a propylene glycol polymer and 30 to 60% of caramel colorbodies.

JOSEPH B. LONGENECKER. JAMESE. CLELAND.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,678,648 Replogle July 31, 1928 2,524,291 Hoffman Oct. 3, 1950 2,533,221 Cleland et al Dec. 12, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Atlas Spans and Tweens, Atlas Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware, Reprinted, June 1945. 

1. A WATER SOLUTION CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF WATER, SUBSTANTIALLY PURE CARAMEL COLORING COMPOUNDS OF 30 TO 50 TINCTORIAL POWER AND A NONTOXIC WATER SOLUBLE ALCOHOLIC COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF PROPYLENE GLYCOL, PROPYLENE AND ETHYLENE GLYCOL POLYMERS AND FATTY ACID DERIVATIVES OF SAID GLYCOL POLYMERS. 